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This just in: the government auction for 3500MHz 5G spectrum in Canada has been pushed back six months. It's now scheduled to take place on June 15th, 2021.

News release
June 5, 2020 – Ottawa, Ontario

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government has engaged with Canada’s telecom service providers to ensure they can continue to provide the services that we all rely on to stay connected.

Today, the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced a six-month postponement of the 3500 MHz spectrum auction process and its associated key dates to allow the telecommunications industry to maintain its focus on providing essential services to Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic. The auction is now scheduled to start on June 15, 2021.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada will continue to monitor COVID-19’s impact on the telecom industry and remains open to further changes to the timelines for spectrum auctions if necessary.

It's time for a new thread of the week, our way of recognizing forum members for promoting valuable discussion here.

Every weekday yours truly posts a morning briefing, including the most popular forum threads—that is, the posts with the most replies—for the previous 24 hour period. For reference, here are the briefings for the past seven days:

Remember that the Monday briefing includes forum posts from the prior Saturday and Sunday, so all weekend posts are similarly eligible.

In each briefing, forum posts are ranked by the number of replies (from highest to lowest). That's subject to change, of course, so I did a quick recount of replies for all forum posts in the briefings above. With 45 replies as of this posting the most popular thread started last week is:

If you're interested in pairing a fancy wearable to your Android phone, here's some good news: there is a host of available options, almost all of which will reliably pass on notifications from your phone (sorry, Fitbit).

The bad news—according to this smartwatch enthusiast, at least—is that wearing any of them involves some sort of compromise. Battery life? Comfort? Readable display outdoors? Sure, pick any two... And if you don't believe me, spin the wheel of imperfect smartwatches below—that is, start on any model and cycle through. The fun never stops!

Fossil Gen 5 / Sport

As the flag-bearer for Wear OS, Fossil watches offer up every feature that a smartwatch user could ask for: media controls, actionable notifications, wrist-based payments, it's all here. The price to be paid is in battery life, particularly if you're interested in third-party watch faces. I installed this simple analog face on my Fossil Sport and suddenly my battery couldn't even make it to the end of the day.

Casio WSD-F21HR / F30

Casio's ruggedized smartwatches have, in my usage, demonstrated about twice the stamina of lesser Wear OS watches. Part of this is likely due to their unique two-layer displays; whereas Fossil cranks up the brightness for better readability outdoors, Casios have a transflective layer so that their displays don't have to light up at all. But while these things are durable, they're also very heavy—and downright uncomfortable after a few hours on my wrist.

Xiaomi Mi Band 4

I bought this unassuming fitness band on a whim at New Zealand's only Xiaomi Store last summer. What you get for around $50 CAD is downright astonishing—a wearable so light that I actually forget that I'm wearing it, yet with a battery that lasts up to three weeks and still manages to power a full-colour AMOLED display. Unfortunately that display is all but unreadable in bright sunlight.

Amazfit Bip

And here we are, back to the first replacement for my beloved Pebble. The Bip's transflective display is just as readable under the hot sun as the Pebble e-ink screens of yore. Battery life is even better—on par with the Mi Band and similarly light on the wrist. Unfortunately there are no available on-board music controls. For the summer I can use the buttons on my earbuds, but when it gets colder and the buds get buried beneath hats and hoods I might have to go back to Wear OS. You've reached the end now start again.

Seriously, is anyone 100% happy with their smartwatch? Be honest...

---------Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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It's time for a new thread of the week, our way of recognizing forum members for promoting valuable discussion here.

Every weekday yours truly posts a morning briefing, including the most popular forum threads—that is, the posts with the most replies—for the previous 24 hour period. For reference, here are the briefings for the past seven days:

Remember that the Monday briefing includes forum posts from the prior Saturday and Sunday, so all weekend posts are similarly eligible.

In each briefing, forum posts are ranked by the number of replies (from highest to lowest). That's subject to change, of course, so I did a quick recount of replies for all forum posts in the briefings above. With 31 replies as of this posting the most popular thread started last week is:

It's time for a new thread of the week, our way of recognizing forum members for promoting valuable discussion here.

Every weekday yours truly posts a morning briefing, including the most popular forum threads—that is, the posts with the most replies—for the previous 24 hour period. For reference, here are the briefings for the past seven days:

Remember that the Monday briefing includes forum posts from the prior Saturday and Sunday, so all weekend posts are similarly eligible.

In each briefing, forum posts are ranked by the number of replies (from highest to lowest). That's subject to change, of course, so I did a quick recount of replies for all forum posts in the briefings above. With 57 replies as of this posting the most popular thread started last week is: